[02.10.2ÎÎ3] Kyrgyz Government Wont Back Down On Cash Registers

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev said on 1 October that the government will not rescind an order forcing all retailers to use cash registers. Some 10,000 traders at Bishkek's major open-air markets held a three-day strike on 29 September-1 October to protest the government order. Tanaev said the traders do not want to use cash registers because they want to avoid taxes, while the government sees the introduction of the registers as helping to "get the economy out of the shadows." The market merchants' trade union has demanded a meeting with Tanaev to settle the dispute. Trade union leader Temirbek Zhanaliev said on 1 October that Kyrgyz law requires only that market traders have a license.